About

It’s the year three million, and the animals of Earth’s past now inhabit the planets of the galaxy in advanced societies. And even though the human species has long since been forgotten, the darkest parts of their history have not.

A rising wave of fascism is sweeping across the galaxy, threatening to throw the Interspecies Galactic Alliance under autocratic rule. To help grow its power, the regime known as The Rat Pack has convinced the powers that be that all cats must be tightly controlled... or forced into feline exile. But everyone knows, cats don’t like to be collared, and they don’t like to be caged.

And so the feline rebellion begins, led by Ophelia (the freedom fighter), Rocket (the medic), Sky (the pouncer), and Pepper (the smuggler). Together, they can stop these fascist forces from seizing power - while building a new galaxy where all species are free together.

Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative game where you play as a band of rebel cats trying to stop fascists from taking over the galaxy. Think Star Wars meets Cats the Musical! It is for 2 - 4 players and takes roughly 45 - 60 minutes to play.

Liberate the Planets

The resistance kneads your help! Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative game — all players win and lose together. Your goal is to liberate four planets before the fascists take control of the Interspecies Galactic Alliance. You'll have to strategize to liberate one planet of each type: Whiskers, Tails, Paws, and Ears.

You’ll use cards from your hand to build up the animal resistance on the twelve different home worlds. Once the Resistance has at least four liberation tokens on a planet, you will place a Liberated flag there!

When four planets have become liberated, the fascists have been defeated by the Resistance, and the animals of the galaxy rejoice!

The Rat Pack Strikes Back

But watch out, because the fascists are always right on your tail! With cards like Anti-Cat Propaganda and The Fascists Use Laser Pointers to Distract Us!, they’ll try to wrestle back control of liberated planets while occupying even more planets to cement their power. The Fascists can win the game in one of three ways: by placing three Occupied flags on the board, by getting every single fascist onto the board, or by gaining too much power on the Fascism Scale.

Making Tough Choices on Your Turn

Everyone knows Space Cats won’t just sit on their haunches while vermin try to take over. Each player gets three actions on their turn, which can consist of a combination of leaping from one planet to another, removing a fascist token from the board, restocking cards from the Resistance Deck, and playing Resistance cards from their hand. Resistance cards give you extra powerful effects, such as adding liberation tokens to your current planet, teleporting across the galaxy, healing scratches from yourself and your fellow cats, learning new cat paw-ers, and more.

Use tactics that come naturally to cats.

And while there are so many ways to free the galaxy, there’s so little time. So stop shedding all over your crash couch and blast off in your rocket ship instead, because you’ll have to make difficult choices on your turn. If you don’t remove scratches from your cat, you'll risk gaining too many of them, which will hinder your rebellion. Should you teleport to the planet that’s on the verge of becoming occupied by fascists, or do you want stay where you are and liberate your home world? Then again, if you don’t restock soon, you’ll run out of the Resistance Cards you need to fight for the resistance!

How Fascism Grows Stronger

In space, no one can hear you meow: At the end of your turn, you will have to roll multiple dice, which will either add more Fascists or remove liberation tokens from the galaxy.

However, the Space Cats can pin the Fascists down. For each Fascist Token you’ve removed from the board on your turn, you’ll get to roll one less die.

In this way, deciding when to reduce the number of Fascists on the board and when to add more Liberation tokens is a delicate balance. Without adding Liberation tokens to the planets, the Fascists will take over by reaching the end of the Fascism Scale. However, if you simply focus on adding Liberation tokens and don’t take on the Fascists directly, their power will grow at a rate you won’t be able to stop.

Build Your Cat Paw-ers

Each cat starts with one base ability, such as: Pouncer, Medic, Smuggler, and Freedom Fighter. But players can also add new powers to their cats throughout the game, like “Sharp Claws,” “Cough Up Hairballs,” “Stolen Fascist Plans,” and “Rescued Animals.” These will create combinations of effects that allow you to fight fascism in new ways. The decisions you make about the powers you adopt will make each game different than the last! So even if you have nine lives to play, every game will be unique.

Build fun and powerful combos!

A New Setup to the Galaxy Each Time You Play!

Each game of Space Cats Fight Fascism has a random setup! When you lay out the game, you’ll shuffle the cards in the Planets Deck, which make up the board. Then you’ll randomly put out the cards, influencing how you strategize to win. Will you work to Liberate only one corner of the galaxy, or will you spread out like you’re taking a nap in a sunbeam to fight fascism across every world?

Fascist Strongholds

Four planets are Fascist Strongholds. When Fascists gain power there, players will have to draw a Galactic News Card, which have additional negative effects!

The fascists will grow their power through their militias, laws, and propaganda.

A sample "Galactic News" card!

Work Together, Win Together!

Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative game, which means players will have to strategize together by using their resources and unique powers. Every cat-stronaut will have an important role to play, and it’ll take a team effort to stop the fascists from taking over!

Be legendary lions and pounce into action right away! Or, take a little time to rest up for the rebellion.

This is what comes with your copy of Space Cats Fight Fascism! Including the rulebook and a card that reminds players what they can do on their turn, you'll get:

You can preview the instruction booklet here! Please note, this is a pre-design copy of the rulebook. We will use funds from this Kickstarter to make the rulebook beautiful and professionally designed, as well as edited for consistency, clarity, and typos.

We’re excited about all the rewards we can offer you for supporting Space Cats Fight Fascism on Kickstarter! These include getting a copy of the game, playing the game with a custom character card of your cat, and even getting your cat illustrated onto a card in the base game! Check out the reward tiers below.

At this level, you’ll receive one copy of Space Cats Fight Fascism!

Everything you need to save the galaxy comes in this box!

At this level, you’ll get one copy of the game and the Secret Meowssions Expansion Pack! You’ll also get two additional cat characters to play in the game!

Secret Meowssions is an expansion that adds new elements to the base game of Space Cats Fight Fascism, for those who want to extend their gameplay and strategize in new ways. In this expansion, cats will have additional missions that they have to complete, without the fascists finding out what you are up to! These meowssions will include freeing captured animals of the resistance, seizing a fascist space station, distributing food to hungry animals, and more. If the cats are able to complete these meowssions, they’ll get major rewards, such as gaining the support of local animals, new tools to fight the fascists, extra actions on your turn, and more. But if the fascists uncover your plans, there will be serious consequences...

This level will also come with two bonus Space Cat characters with unique paw-ers: Buzzy and Amelia. Buzzy’s ability is Lunar Scout, which allows him to travel to moons and gain extra resources for the resistance. Amelia’s ability is Laser Eyes, which allows her to smoother the fascist Rat Pack.

These two bonus characters will be able to be played both with the base game and with the Secret Meowssions Expansion.

At this level, you’ll get everything above, plus, you will be able to play the game as your own cat!

After the Kickstarter campaign ends, you will submit a photo, which we will then turn into a custom character sheet and a playable token that you will receive. You will also be able to choose your cat’s ability from a set of existing options (such as pouncer, smuggler, freedom fighter, and more), ! Finally, you will be able to either select from an existing set of short descriptions for your custom character, or you can write a new one! You may also choose either an existing background story from the game for your cat, or you can write your own.

(If you want to have another pet instead of a cat as a custom character, you can choose to do so. You’ll just have to be okay with them doing cat-like things!)

You’ll get all the above, but you will also get a second custom character! Play the game as both of your cats, or share the fun with a friend or family member!

After the Kickstarter campaign ends, you will submit a photo for each cat, which we will then turn into custom character sheets and playable tokens that you will receive. You will also be able to choose your cats' abilities from a set of existing options (such as pouncer, smuggler, freedom fighter, and more). You may also choose either an existing background story from the game for your cats, or you can write your own.

You’ll get all the above, but you will also get four custom cat characters! Play the game with up to four of your own cats or other pets! Don't have four cats? Share the fun with your friends and family!

After the Kickstarter campaign ends, you will submit a photo for each cat, which we will then turn into custom character sheets and playable tokens that you will receive. You will also be able to choose your cats' abilities from a set of existing options (such as pouncer, smuggler, freedom fighter, and more). You may also choose either an existing background story from the game for your cats, or you can write your own.

In addition to all of the above, you can also have one of your cats or other pets illustrated into one of the cards in the game! And while this game is mostly about cats, other animals are on their side and fighting fascism too. You can have a dog, bird, horse, guinea pig, or any other pet illustrated into a card in the game! They might be recruiting animals to the resistance, stealing a spaceship from the fascists, taking part in an uprising, or doing another heroic deed!

So this:

Becomes this!

The art in Space Cats Fight Fascism is beautiful and adorable. We’d love to feature your pet in the game!

We are offering discounted shipping rates for this Kickstarter! Shipping on all packages for the United States is $7. Shipping for all packages to Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union is $15. Shipping to the rest of the world for all packages is $19.

A prototype copy of Space Cats Fight Fascism!

Rewards that are going to the US and the EU will be shipped from within those regions, which means they will be VAT- and customs-friendly. Rewards to Canada will be shipped from the US.

Some international shipments outside of these regions may be subject to customs charges, depending on the country to which you are shipping. We cannot label the game as a gift on customs forms.

Space Cats Fight Fascism will be the fourth game published by the TESA Collective. Our design team for this game has worked on 8 other games — including Good Dog, Bad Zombie as well as Rise Up — so it’s a perfect blending of our interests! Our design team has a strong track record of developing and fulfilling well-received games that are fun, funny, and thoughtful. The TESA Collective is based around North America: in Chicago, Vermont, Western Massachusetts, and Montreal.

Evan Rowland is working with TESA as the art director for Space Cats Fight Fascism. Evan draws pictures and makes games. His work has appeared in Questlandia, Noirlandia, and Good Dog, Bad Zombie. He hopes that his life in some small way discomfits the fascists of the world. We are also working with Fox Desfleurs for the art. Fox is a freelance illustrator and graduate of Seneca College's Independent Illustration program. He is a lover of retro-RPGs, fractals, and all things cute. He lives with his husband in Toronto.

Brian Van Slyke, a member of TESA, is also the co-designer of Good Dog, Bad Zombie, and a member of another company, Make Big Things, which published Good Dog, Bad Zombie! If you followed the Kickstarter for that game, you might notice some similar rewards between the two campaigns. Make Big Things and TESA are good friends, and they both learn a lot about publishing games from each other, but they are separate companies. :)

TESA has been the leader in producing games that are ethically manufactured. Several years ago, we began working with Community Printers — a worker-owned business in California that uses sustainable materials. Community Printers is an industrial scale printing press, and we collaborated with them to develop methods for manufacturing board games. Since then, other publishers have followed our lead in using Community Printers to manufacture their games!

Below, you can watch the video created by Molly McLeod about how we produced our previous game, Rise Up, with Community Printers.

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We are proud of our success in developing new, ethical means for creating games that are good for both people and the planet.

Now that we've reached our initial goal of $20,000, we are able to introduce stretch goals! These will allow us to add more features to the game.

Our first stretch goal has been unlocked! We're adding a new playable character to the game - Alias: SC. He's the resistance's main hacker, and he has a powerful ability that brings new tools to the resistance.

If we reach $34,000, we will add three additional "New Power" cards to the game! These new powers allow you to upgrade your cat's base abilities, and they allow you to create fun combinations of effects. They also make each game round unique!

Want to see Space Cats Fight Fascism in action? Check out these brief clips from playtests we did as we developed the game. Note: these videos were taken before we'd created the art and layout of the game components!

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The cats want your help to get the word out about their fight! Share this Kickstarter campaign with your friends, cat lovers, and board game players over social media and email. Here’s a sample Tweet and Facebook post that you’re welcome to use:

Join the fight! Space Cats Fight Fascism is a cooperative board game that’s now on Kickstarter. Stop fascism, save the galaxy, and cough up hairballs! http://kck.st/2rdVwKs

We know that not everyone has experience with Kickstarter. So here’s a quick overview of the platform:

Kickstarter helps us raise money to finish producing our game, so that we can finish the art and bring the game to our manufacturer.

We either make our goal, or we don’t receive any funds: If we don’t meet our goal by the end of this campaign (May 31st), we won’t receive any funds. (And you don’t get charged for pledging.)

Even if we make our initial goal, you won’t be charged until the campaign ends on May 31st at 9 PM Eastern Time — so pledging early is a big help! No matter when you choose to pledge, you don’t get charged until the campaign’s end date. Pledging early is also a big help in creating momentum for the campaign!

Even if we’ve reached our initial goal, you can still pledge! If we are lucky enough to make our initial goal, we’ll announce further “stretch goals.” These will let us add more content and features to the game while producing more copies!

Risks and challenges

TESA has completed and fulfilled previous Kickstarter campaigns! While timeline miscalculations can occur, we have found if this happens, it is usually as a result of unexpected life events or manufacturing issues that require our attention. TESA takes Kickstarting seriously, and we love making games for people and getting them into your hands on time! We are always communicative with our backers and supporters about timeline, game updates, and more.

The gameplay for Space Cats Fight Fascism is virtually complete, and now we are just working to finish up the art and layout.

If we meet our funding goal, you’ll get a fun and adorable game. We can’t wait to share it with you!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $70 or more
About $70

Play the game as your cat!

In addition to the above rewards, you’ll get a customized character sheet and a token of your cat as a playable character. After the campaign is over, you will submit a photo of your cat and then choose an ability as well as a description for it. You’ll receive a physical and a digital version of the customized character.

(If you want to submit a pet that is not a cat, that's totally fine! You will just have to be okay with them doing cat-like things!)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $90 or more
About $90

Play the game as two of your cats!

You’ll get all the above, but you will also get a second custom character. Play the game as both of your cats, or share the fun with a friend or family member. After the campaign is over, you will submit a photo for each cat and then choose abilities as well as descriptions for each one. You’ll receive a physical and a digital version of the customized characters.

(If you want to submit a pet that is not a cat, that's totally fine! You will just have to be okay with them doing cat-like things!)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $125 or more
About $125

Play the game as four of your cats!

You’ll get all the above, but you will also get up to four custom cats to play as in Space Cats Fight Fascism. Don’t have four cats? You can always choose to include the cats of your friends and family. After the campaign is over, you will submit a photo for each cat and then choose abilities as well as descriptions for each one. You’ll receive a physical and a digital version of the customized characters.

(If you want to submit a pet that is not a cat, that's totally fine! You will just have to be okay with them doing cat-like things!)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $250 or more
About $250

Have your cat illustrated into the game!

In addition to all the rewards above, we’ll draw your cat into a card in the game. That means your pet will be in every copy of Space Cats Fight Fascism.

And while this game is mostly about cats, other animals are on their side and fighting fascism too. So if you want a dog, bird, horse, guinea pig, or any other pet illustrated into a card in the game instead - that's fine too!

Your pet might be featured recruiting animals to the resistance, stealing a spaceship from the fascists, taking part in an uprising, or another heroic deed!

You will also receive a high resolution print and digital copy of the illustration.